Polls

My feelings on the Pixel C are no great secret, but Google's latest hardware product still undeniably delivers on the large-format, premium Android tablet promise the Nexus 9 kind of failed to live up to last year. The Pixel C is Nexus 10-like in its size, but the 1:√2 aspect ratio gives it a more squared-off shape, as opposed to the old Nexus 10's media-focused 16:9 layout.

While Google is positioning the Pixel C as a "pro" sort of device, aside from the keyboard dock, none of that productive promise is really yet delivered on. As such, for now the Pixel C is just like any other Android tablet, which may be desirable depending on just what it is you want out of a device like this.

Google Now On Tap was easily the most futuristic feature to be demoed when Android 6.0 was previewed at Google I/O earlier this year. We longed for it, anticipated it, and when it finally arrived... most of us didn't really find a use for it.

I'll be honest: I had completely forgotten Now On Tap even existed until Artem suggested this weekend's poll topic, one that I think will yield some interesting results. I haven't ever used Now On Tap in a serious way, only once or twice for demo purposes (as in the photo above), and I'm not even able to think of a single situation where it'd be much more helpful than, say, copying and pasting or just using voice search to perform a query.

The cost of a smartphone can vary wildly - anywhere from $50 (or even less) to over $1000 depending on just which phone you're talking about. That wide range of prices also means a wide variety of devices are out there that cater to the specific needs or desires of you, the consumer. There are also a growing number of ways to pay for your phone if you really want the expensive stuff.

In America, phone subsidies from carriers (mobile operators) were long the preferred method to acquire a phone. In exchange for a promise to stay with a carrier as a post-paid customer for two years or more, the carrier would greatly subsidize the cost of a smartphone up front.

While we touch on the subject of speakers in all of our phone reviews, rarely do we give them a particularly focused or deep analysis. Oftentimes, this is simply because many phones have similarly lamentable audio production on these speakers, with varying degrees of maximum loudness. But as the smartphone has evolved, so too have the speakers inside of them, and a class of phones that quite specifically cater to providing a better speaker experience have emerged.

Perhaps most famously, HTC's BoomSound attempted to brand the concept of dual front-facing speakers - the feature was an absolute cornerstone of the One M7, M8, and M9, and made the devices stand out compared to rivals from the likes of LG and Samsung.

Bluetooth is one of the most ubiquitous wireless communication standards on the planet. It's also quite versatile - Bluetooth can be used for a variety of functions, anything from file transfers to smart accessory connectivity to tethering to audio streaming. It's better at some of these things than others, though - Bluetooth file transfer speeds and tethering, for example, are notorious for their low speed and general unreliability.

This weekend, I'm asking you: what do you use Bluetooth for? When I started thinking about how often I used it, I was kind of surprised. I use Bluetooth in my car for phone calls, for music streaming in my car, for music streaming to a Bluetooth speaker in my apartment, and for my Android Wear smartwatch [obviously].

Here at Android Police we are usually pretty straightforward, if perhaps a little snarky, with our presentation of the news. Every once in a while though, we run into a story so strange that it is worthy of a more creative approach.

We ran into a press release, a few days back, for a device that was so bizarre we couldn't believe it was real. I've described that device for you in the article below, along with three fake devices that I made up. When you are done reading you can answer the poll at the bottom of the page letting us know which device you think is an actual product.

We ran this poll a little over two years ago, but I figured it was time for a refresh. Wireless charging seemed to have a lot of momentum in the smartphone world for a little while there, but there's no denying the enthusiasm from manufacturers toward it has cooled recently. The new Nexus phones don't charge wirelessly, nor do most of Motorola's new devices, LG's need a special case, and HTC has never been hip on it. The only major OEM pushing it is Samsung, with the Note 5 and S6 edge+ being the first phones ever to support faster Qi charging.

This weekend's poll is a bit different. When it comes to smartphones, everyone has different priorities. Some of the most commonly and hotly-debated features of a given phone are its battery life, the quality of the display, quality of the camera, and how well the phone will be supported down the road.

So, of those four, which is more important to you? I realize that for some people, none of these four items is the most important feature on a phone, which is why that's not the question we're asking. But because these particular points are often the most-discussed among comments in reviews of smartphones, I'd like to know which of them you'd consider on balance to be more important than the others given your personal opinion.

Earlier this week, photos of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy View tablet - a word I use primarily because there isn't a better one for a product like this - leaked. Extensively. It's an 18.4" touchscreen with a huge stand/handle attachment, and as far as we can tell, it has basically zero productive aspirations. It's a media consumption device. So, dare I ask: why do we need this?

Samsung isn't the first OEM to try it, either. Alcatel is working on a very similar device called the Xess, and the Nabi brand of children's tablets already has several gigantic slates under its belt.

I know, I know - we do a lot of Nexus polls around this time of year. But they're relevant! While we've asked you about your preference between the Nexus 5X and 6P, we have yet to inquire as to how many of you have actually pre-ordered the devices.

The Nexus 6P is kind-of-sort-of insanely expensivein some regions of the world, with Italy clocking in at an eye-watering 699 Euro (around $780) for the 32GB base version. Granted, the 5X is also ludicrously expensive in the Eurozone, at 479 Euro for the 16GB model. Suffice it to say, Google hasn't priced these phones affordably in every corner of the world.